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It's been 7 years since We Were Dead and today Modest Mouse posted a pic of what appears to be a photograph of their new single 'Lampshades On Fire' which has been doing the rounds on youtube for years now.

while I didn't hate their last two albums (haven't listened to interim EPs), I'd be amazed if they ever got back what made them so special: a hungry song writer with sad, weird stories just spilling out of him, sound-tracked by ambitious, creative, scratchy lo-fi rock.

I can't help but feel that it's probably gonna be a bit shit, and that's coming from someone who really liked their last two albums. Do remember thinking the same with the last QOTSA album though, and that ended up being their best in years, so who knows.

the 4 or 5 songs they've been playing live sound varied and pretty strong. Lampshades On Fire sounds like a pretty strong single, cant wait for the studio version, but the rest of their material I've heard sounds less pop and has a lil more bite to it.

when Superchunk did their first album in a decade it sounded like a Superchunk song, and it was great and the album was great. Bands that have been around for close to 20 years aren't really going to make major changes at this point.

I like the Modest Mouse sound and whilst I will always have a soft spot for the old production and erratic nature of their material of years gone by I think they're one of the best indie infused pop acts at the same time and think the 3 singles thus far have showcased it pretty well with the new song having a very strong series of hooks.

In a lot of ways, ignoring the production, the last 2 song remind me of Building Nothing era Modest Mouse except shinier.

are pretty different despite BN being massive fans and the occasional musical nod to them (I always thought the guitar in Jesus Christ was quite Modest Mouse).

Best place to start with MM is prob either The Moon and Antarctica or Good New for People who love Bad News. Both are accessible with a bit more poppy stuff than their first two albums. You can't go wrong with any really, I think all their albums are really strong.

certainly with Brand New's last two albums. Granted, very different before then, but now not so much (Brand New perhaps heavier musically). Will investigate MM a little further. Aware they're very highly regarded, just never clicked with their last couple of records from what I heard.

The album is really strong though it lacks focus, it erratically jumps from style to style and lacks cohesive structure, but as a collection of songs it's really good. It has a lot of their best material on it and asides from a couple of disposable tracks 'Be Brave' sounds like a throw away from We Were Dead and 'Wicked Campaign' sounds nothing like Modest Mouse at all and is kind of generic.

'Sugar Boats' 'The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box' 'Pups To Dust' 'The Tortoise And The Tourist' are up their with the bands best output. 'Pistol' is delightfully twisted, 'Strangers To Ourselves' and 'Of Course We Know' sandwich the album very well. If the album had a clearer sense of theme or direction it'd help but on early listens I am very satisfied.

'The Ground Walks' into 'Coyotes' into 'Pups To Dust' into 'Sugar Boats' as much as I am? That's just a relentless run of awesome material, was kinda cold on Coyotes as a single (well not cold but it didn't quite work for me as much as I hoped it would) but in that run of songs it works so well.